


Home is Where the Clowns Are

by ETraytin



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post 4x10 fill-in, and we deserve some comfort after ten episodes of hurt, everyone deserves a hug after saving the universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22353616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ETraytin/pseuds/ETraytin
Summary: After the Judge's ruling, Team Cockroach heads back to the Medium Place for a rest after a truly long day. Chidi and Eleanor finally get some time to talk.
Relationships: Chidi Anagonye/Eleanor Shellstrop
Comments: 6
Kudos: 72





	Home is Where the Clowns Are

After everything was over, after the desperate rush to save humanity and the mind games against evil, after Timothy Olyphant and Disco Janet, after Shawn's surprising capitulation and the Judge's stay of her ruling, they went back to the Medium Place to regroup. All the Janet babies were gone and the three new humans were still in stasis, so it was pretty quiet except for Mindy and Derrick fucking on the counter in Yogurt Yogurt Yogurt. Eleanor ignored the moans and frantic windchime noises to turn to the others. “All right, this has been maybe the longest day on record, even counting the day I spent completely stoned in the Phoenix IKEA store, so I say we get some rest.” 

“It really has been only one day, hasn't it?” Tahani asked wonderingly. “It feels like the experiment ended ages ago.” Her eyes widened. “Janet, are the humans still in the bathroom?” 

“Safe and sound,” Janet reported with a thumbs up. 

“In the bathroom?” Chidi asked. “What, why?” 

“Turns out bathrooms and waiting rooms seem like the same thing when you don't pee,” Eleanor informed him with a wry grin.

“But you still shouldn't pee in a waiting room, because that makes people mad,” Jason added sagaciously. 

“Good tip,” Eleanor told him. “Anyway, we've got a few days to start working through specifics on the plan, so I'm going to spend like the first twenty hours in bed. We'll catch up with you tomorrow.” Taking Chidi firmly by the hand, she set off for the clown house. He tripped momentarily from the sudden pull, but followed along quickly enough. 

They didn't really say anything on the short trip to the house, just walked with their fingers twined together and their feet crunching softly against the gravel. The silence was heavy but not uncomfortable. 

Chidi finally spoke as they reached the front door. “I'm sorry,” he told her. 

“For what?” Eleanor asked, baffled. 

“For everything that happened while I was rebooted,” he replied, pulling open the door. They walked in together. “For not remembering your name, and all the times I talked with you about Simone, and just... I remember everything now, and I hurt you in a thousand small ways, and I hate that.” He looked around and Eleanor followed his gaze, taking in the general disconsolate air of the place, the empty closet with its door hanging open, the untouched clean dishes in the drainer, the shards of glass on the floor from when Eleanor had hurled a coffee mug through the Patches Apart sculpture that first night alone. “You didn't stay here, did you.” 

Eleanor shook her head. “You've got nothing to apologize for,” she insisted. “If you can forgive me for literally torturing you for an entire year so you would drag the others up out of the moral dirt, I've got nothing to complain about with you forgetting my name a few times. It was hard for both of us, even if you didn't know it at the time.” She sat down on the bedroom ledge, feeling... it was hard to know what she was feeling. Tired, and relieved, and happy, and numb from too many things happening all at once, maybe. “I stayed at Tahani's, mostly. That chick can really put together a guest bedroom, wow.” 

“Don't be sorry. You did exactly what I asked you to do,” Chidi reminded her, sitting down next to her so that his thigh just brushed hers. “You took care of me, and you helped me do what I needed to do, even though I didn't remember what it was.” He leaned over and kissed her hair. “I do want to hear the story about how you became the architect and Michael became the dog heaven guy, though. Did he lose rock paper scissors?” 

She laughed. “That's a long story. And if anybody lost the toss, it was me. I never, ever wanted to be in charge of this nuthouse, but somebody had to do it. Michael flaked out, and Tahani couldn't do it, and Jason definitely couldn't do it, and Janet was already running everybody in the neighborhood, plus she was evil for a couple weeks and Mindy was high as balls basically all the time, so there wasn't really anybody else.” She chuckled again, but it was edged now, almost painful. “Me, the girl who never wanted to be in charge of so much as a Secret Santa, and I was supposed to save the universe! It was so hard, and I was so scared all the time, and I really missed you!”

Eleanor hadn't realized how much her voice was shaking until it cracked on the last word and suddenly she was sobbing, the weight of the entire past year and the last crazy day descending all at once. She'd barely shed a tear during the entire experiment, no matter how bad things had gotten. It was kind of embarrassing how Chidi could always bring her true feelings out so quickly, whether they were in the mailroom of heaven or a house full of broken clowns. She put her hands over her face and tried to pull herself together at least enough to stop crying. 

She felt his arms go around her and grabbed on tight in return, finally getting what she'd been aching for all these months. Chidi let her cry, let her practically crawl into his lap as he murmured that things were going to be okay now and that the worst part was over and she'd done so well, and that he wasn't ever going to leave her again. Eleanor wasn't quite sure she believed him on any or all of it, but she wanted to very, very badly.

Eventually the storm passed and her tears, unfortunately salt flavored this time instead of nacho cheese, tapered off into occasional hiccupy sobs. Chidi had maneuvered them both up the ledge and onto the bed while she was crying, which gave her access to a much needed box of tissues. She wiped her face and blew her nose, then tried a smile on him. “Sorry about that, I guess it's been building up awhile.” 

“Don't be sorry,” he told her again, kissing her forehead and then her mouth, even though she was definitely gross from crying. “I love all the parts of you, and I missed you even when I didn't know what I was missing.” He smiled back at her, his eyes crinkling up at the corners in the way she could only see with his glasses off. His glasses were off, she realized; he'd cried some too. Perversely, it made her feel a little better. “The universe might not give us soulmates, but after three hundred years, I think you and I are probably about as close as it gets. And since the earth's not getting canceled, we'll finally have some time to enjoy it.” 

“That sounds pretty good,” she mused, kicking off her shoes and stretching out on the bed. When the sliding doors were open, the bedroom was minimally clowny and actually pretty comfortable. Chidi stretched out next to her, and she took advantage of it by rolling over to snuggle against him. She didn't usually think of herself as much of a cuddler, but this was a special occasion. “Jeremy Bearimy?” 

“I still have no idea how that works,” he sighed, but he sounded amused. 

“I should be jumping you right now,” Eleanor muttered, her voice kind of muffled by his armpit. “But I'm too forking tired. Gimme a raincheck?” 

“Probably just as well, because I have eight hundred lives worth of headache right now,” Chidi admitted, reaching up to fumble for the lamp. The room went dark, but for the always-full moon of Michael's fake sky outside. “That's the good thing about Jeremy Bearimy, though. We've got all the time in the universe.”


End file.
